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Rachel's Challenge
Rachel's Challenge Darrell Scott established Rachel's Challenge as a non-profit organization, to perpetuate his daughter's example and the two-page "Code of Ethics" she wrote a month before her death at the hands of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.[5] Its mission statement is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people". The Rachel’s Challenge presentations are given in schools and communities by members of her family and other speakers, using video footage of the Columbine High School massacre and its aftermath, combined with Rachel Scott’s drawings and writings, in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide. As of 2009, Rachel's Challenge has developed a team of 30 speakers addressing young people in schools and colleges worldwide about Rachel's example.[5] The Rachel's Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign's goals on a long-term basis.[6] Schools around the country have incorporated Rachel's challenge into their own clubs bringing the message to their students. Darrell Scott has co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her impact, urging students to practice compassion and kindness. Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Darrell Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge non-profit organization — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to thousands of schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs."[7] Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan Columbine perpetrators did." Rachel Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 16-year old Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the shootings, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table with two friends, Isaiah Shoels and Matthew Kechter, both of whom were slain. The next day, he was interviewed at length by Katie Couric on the Today show. The tearful interview, which NBC did not interrupt with normally scheduled station breaks, was described a year later by USA Today as "one of the most indelible moments of the tragedy".[8] Craig wrote of his sister Rachel, "...her love for people was less conditional than anyone I knew... It didn't matter to her what you looked like or who your friends were. Another thing I liked and respected so much was that she made it clear... what her beliefs were".[9] He continues to make frequent speaking appearances on behalf of Rachel's Challenge, urging teens to strive for a classroom "atmosphere of kindness and compassion" to stem school violence.[10] He is also periodically interviewed on various television programs, such as 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today show, to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.